San Juan Passport Agency Celebrates One Year!

February 11, 2015

The San Juan Passport Agency celebrated its one-year anniversary last Thursday, February 5, 2015. As part of the celebration, the agency hosted a Saturday passport day on February 7 from 9:00a.m. - 2:00p.m. Routine and expedited services were available by appointment.
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All Cuban Family Reunification Parole (CFRP) interviews currently scheduled on or after February 1, 2015 will have new interview appointments scheduled by the National Visa Center (NVC). This includes all applicants who have previously scheduled appointments on or after February 1, 2015 through U.S. Interests Section Havana’s call center.

In November 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive actions to fix our broken immigration system. As part of these actions, the President created a White House Task Force on New Americans. The goal of the Task Force is to develop a federal immigrant integration strategy that allows new Americans to contribute to society to their fullest potential and bring new Americans together with their receiving communities to strengthen communities. The Task Force is seeking input on promising practices and examples of model programs that help immigrants and refugees to contribute to your communities and our economy, and to ensure that federal programs and policies continue to reflect our ongoing commitment to welcoming and integrating newcomers into the fabric of our country. Further information is available here.

On October 9, 2014, the Visa Office hosted an outreach event with AILA representatives to address questions related to temporary worker visas, reciprocity, and several other topics. The questions solicited by AILA and the responses provided by the Visa Office can be found here.

On November 4, 2014, the National Visa Center (NVC) hosted an outreach event with AILA representatives to address questions related to immigrant visa processing at NVC. The questions solicited by AILA and the responses provided by NVC can be found here.

The United States will begin issuing visas in accordance with a new reciprocal arrangement on November 12, 2014. Chinese applicants who qualify for a B-category nonimmigrant visa (NIV) may now be issued multiple-entry visas for up to 10 years for business and tourist travel. Qualified Chinese students and exchange visitors and their dependents who qualify for F, M, or J-category visas are now eligible for multiple-entry visas valid for up to five years or the length of their program. U.S. citizens eligible for Chinese short term business and tourist visas should also receive multiple-entry visas valid for up to 10 years, while qualified U.S. students may receive student residency permits valid up to five years, depending on the length of their educational program. Please review our FAQs for more information.

The Department of State’s authority to issue Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to Afghan nationals under section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended, was extended. 1,000 SIVs, in addition to the 3,000 visas for Afghan principal applicants originally allocated for use in Fiscal Year 2014, may be issued until December 31, 2014. We expect that these visas will all be issued before that date. We welcome action by Congress to extend this program. We are making arrangements to quickly resume issuances of SIVs to Afghan principal applicants if more visas are allocated.

The Department of State’s authority to issue Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to Afghan nationals under section 602(b) of the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, as amended, has been extended. 1,000 SIVs, in addition to the 3,000 visas for Afghan principal applicants originally allocated for use in Fiscal Year 2014, may be issued until December 31, 2014. The Afghan SIV program will end on December 31, 2014, unless it is further extended by Congress.

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